Verdant Tea

Well, I feel a bit triumphant now, because tonight this one has flavour. I gave it a full minute infusion, with two overfilled tsp in 8oz.

It almost tastes like a cross between a leafhopper tea and a green oolong, but muted… (but the Mi Lan Dancong may still be in my tastebuds…) …Nope, still getting those honey notes. It’s light and sweet, and there’s the oolong vegetal flavour, though it tastes… old/stale. But good old/stale… hah that’s a terrible way to describe it. Haters of vegetal teas would tolerate this better, though.

Ok, sorry for the sucky note, but I clearly have lost my vocabulary, so it’s sleep time.

ETA: Second infusion (1 min/boiling water) was very much like the first infusion, but lighter in flavor, although unlike last time I definitely got flavor! Mostly that aged vegetal flavor, which is actually quite pleasant. Lingering oolong aftertaste which I enjoyed.

Sadly, my first attempt at this tea was a complete bust. I can’t entirely recall my infusion parameters, but I think I infused about 2 tsp of the tea in ~8oz. of water for 1 minute at about 205F, and ended up with…. what tasted like water. The only indication that it wasn’t water was the colour, which was a lightish yellow (later on I noticed that it was somewhat sweet water, but certainly couldn’t identify any other flavours). I suspect that my problem was poor brewing parameters – our internet was down when I was brewing this up and so I just guessed at what I was doing instead of following Verdant’s suggested brewing parameters, which I prefer to do when brewing up a tea for the first time.

After my failed first infusion, I ended up carelessly infusing the leaves a couple more times for a longer period of time, and got something vaguely oolongy that I did drink (and at one point mixed with a 3rd infusion of Butiki’s Gui Fei Oolong).

Luckily, I not only have a sample packet of this tea from my dragon well pre-order, I bought an additional 2 oz. so I have plenty of tea to play with!

I only got a sample of this one, and I wish I had more! I tried it twice and it tasted completely different both times. I’m not sure if that’s because I didn’t get a good distribution of the blend in each cup, or my mind is playing tricks on me.

The first time I made a big pot of this tea and it smelled amazing. Ginger and sage and a hint of flowers and citrus. The tea had a strong ginger kick and a background of sage. I can see how it’s used for when people have a cold, but it doesn’t taste medicinal at all, just soothing. The second time I tried it (new tea, not re-steeped) I couldn’t taste ginger at all. It smelled and tasted of paan, a betel leaf, slightly sweet and woodsy. Might have been a little bit of sage in the background. I liked both versions, but definitely prefer the first.

SIPDOWN! Thanks to Indigobloom for this sample. I don’t think i would have otherwise picked this up on my own from verdant, but now that I’ve had it, i might consider keeping a small stock of this one around. I am digging the way the basil and mint blend together! Really glad i jumped at the chance to give this one a whirl :)

I’ve been very interested in trying this one for awhile. Smells very cocoa-y in the bag similar to most Yunnans I’ve tried, BUT also has a crisp freshness to it, almost lemon-like.
Taste makes me think of minerals/hot rocks, ripe green grape, and light hints of cocoa, maybe citrus. I also get the “linen” note mentioned on this company’s website. Silky, refreshing and enjoyable mouthfeel, no bitterness or funky aftertaste. I’m liking this more with each sip. Second steep is just as good as the first. Shall I go for a third? Why yes, I think I shall!

After going through a bag of this tea over the past few months, I find it is a nicely refreshing contrast to some of the “darker” tasting, robust teas in my cabinet (not that this is what I’d call a light tea, it is just a nice change). Great with or without sweetener.

SO this was pretty good!
I like the complex flavors i was getting, loved the other tea more that i had of verdants so maybe thats why i’m not 100% floored. but this is really good though i did not really get any astringency and i do like a touch of it as its a sign of a good tea i hear.

The second steep was not nearly as good and i had to add some other things to perk it back up. Overall a very nice tea!

So what can i say about this almost legendary tea here on Steepster. Nothing new that the 120 other reviews have not said. So all i will say is i was not disappointed with the very high expectation i had of this tea. Expensive… yes, but it commands this price and is well worth it. and a must buy.

Now I’m on a puerh kick from that awesome sheng yesterday (I might even finish up my sample pack later today) so I decided to open up my brick of this and chip away a bit to have a cup. I still need practice with removing tea from the brick, but I did get enough for my gaiwan finally. I just covered the bottom of it. Today I did two rinses, both 25 seconds, and the tea is much smoother and no fishiness, Woot! The steeped smell is caramel and spice.

This tea is the darkest I have when steeped, it’s a rich deep red brown, i’m always concerned it will be too strong. But today it’s just a lovely rich flavor, with caramel and wood as the main body flavors and the ginger is adding a spiciness that I am enjoying. I’ve had 2 cups from my gaiwan with about 7 second steeps, and i look forward to having a few more this afternoon! See previous notes :)

So it is my birthday today, and I wanted to have a special tea. I was between this one, Master Han’s Yunnan Black and the legendary Golden Fleece that I have yet to try. However, this one won out because it has been sitting there in my drawer, a nice large brick, just waiting for a special moment. And today seemed like the perfect time to break into it. Also, I decided that it’d be a nice tradition to have a gongfu session of this tea every year on my bday, and I can see how the aging is going in a semi-regular fashion, although I will probably have it more often now that I actually got into it. But this will hopefully be my birthday tea for many years. :)

So I had to break into this beast somehow. I scrolled back through my tasting notes to find Bonnie’s suggestions and also went to Verdant’s site and watched David’s video on how to break into pu’er. So I tried using a flathead screwdriver first to pry into it sideways, but that wasn’t working and was just making dust, so I tried a knife like Bonnie said, and the sharp tip did the trick. I also cut a small corner off. I have no idea how much I put in my gongfu pot, but it seemed like enough to make a good few cups.

I did 2 rinses for about 15-20 seconds with boiling water. Then I steeped for around 10-15 seconds for the first, going to try to keep to that for the rest of the steepings. The liquor is a beautiful dark red, and it smells so good, like caramel and vanilla with that lovely earthy note! This smells nice and rich and tasty, I prefer the scent of this to the xingyang 2007 actually.

Mmmm this tastes so nice and warming. A lot of caramel and sweetness in this one, but there is a nice burst of earth and maybe a bit of fruitiness even to this steeping. Something fresh behind the sweetness. It is also quite smooth and this is making me feel pretty good and relaxed. To me it is definitely sweeter and a bit smoother than the xingyang. I like this.

Overall, this is a very nice shu. I am very happy I finally opened up my brick of this and found that I like it, because I have a lot of it to drink eventually! I’m excited to have more cups of this and have a nice relaxing day drinking this tea and trying to not worry about school. Happy this was my choice of a new tea on my bday!

This is a sipdown. I’m doing a gong fu session alongside the 1st Picking Laoshan Black. Feeling grateful for all of the good tea I have been able to drink. :-)

Casey and I went out for coffee this morning (in my case, soy milk flavored with pumpkin syrup) and when we returned we both got back into our pajamas and got on the couch for a Game of Thrones marathon. We’re both new to the show, so we’re attempting to catch up before the new season.

I made us a pot of Laoshan Black first. This is still one of my favorites even though it was also one of the first loose leaf teas I tried when I got “into” tea.

Steepster ate my last note. I really should know to copy my note before hitting “save changes”…

I decided to revisit this one after trying Zhi Tea’s Gong Fu Black last night. It had reminded me of this. There are some similarities, but the Laoshan Black is more subtle and sweeter. The dry leaf of this also has a milder aroma, the Zhi tea leaves remind me much more of a Yunnan Black. I think I would pair this with sweet foods and the Gong Fu Black with savory foods.

Comforting midday tea on a rainy and grey day…

I love Verdant Tea’s black teas. Today I brewed a big pot of this western style. What can I say about it? The hype is right.

This tea blew me away!! I am completely in love with the laoshan black so I was anxious to try this one. It was amazing! You get the subtle chocolate notes of the laoshan which I love but this tea was a little more assertive. I prefer intense, dark, black teas so this made me happy happy.I immediately went online to buy a large pouch of it only to discover it was sold out!! I will anxiously be keeping track of this tea and a possible spring shipment. Luckily I have enough left for 1 more pot. In the meantime I will pout until I can get my hands on more. It’s a truly wonderful tea!!

SIPDOWN! As I need to make room for my waves of tea orders coming lol. This one is a sad sipdown, this tea is so unique and I crave it quite often it seems, eventually I will spring for an oz or so, but I have other teas I need to drink down first. Haha, I am sure I could have an oz of every Verdant tea in my cupboard, to be honest!

I finished up my sample pack, which was about 5 g of tea, but I really wanted it western style..conflict of interests lol. So I brewed it gongfu, but 3 times quickly in a row to fill up a mug and added a splash of milk. Best of both worlds, and I finished the sample this way too! Mmm this is so roasty and malty tonight, not much honey aftertaste yet, mostly almost a charcoal flavor (but not in a bad way) and the rich, earthiness of sweet potatoes. The milk was purely to tone it down a bit, because my gaiwan method is not as fast as recommended, and each one steeps about 5-6 seconds instead of 2-3 lol. And the milk helped cool it off. And as I drink more of this, yes, the honey flavor is coming out in the cooling tea, melding into a dark, wonderfully complex brew. My goodness, this is good. Maybe in my next Verdant order…yes, there will be another one this month, to get the Sichuan Caravan when it returns, tonight’s was exclusively for the two reserve teas that I can’t live without (mostly the Mi Lan Xiang…swoon). See previous notes on this tea!

ETA – Malty, chocolate and honey covered sweet potatoes now. Actually, almost like chocolate covered honeycomb. My god. this is a revelation right here. So good. Upping rating a bit because this is fantastic!

I haven’t had this tea in ages! I have had a sample pack kicking around from a Verdant order, but have been waiting to have it because I quite enjoy this black tea. Today feels like the day for it. The leaves are starting to change, and a roasty, sweet potatoey tea seems like the perfect complement to the season change. And boy is it roasty today! I used approx. 2 tsps of tea (probably 1 will suffice next time, like LB for me haha) and brewed for 1 minute, and the liquor is super dark and it smells almost smoky it’s so roasty! The flavor has a slightly bitter edge and an interesting note to the aftertaste, not as much honey as I remember. The sweet potato shines through loud and clear though! I think the subsequent steepings will be a bit better, this one is pretty brisk, but still tasty. One day I will probably order an oz of this to have around. See previous notes!

Oh, and I just did a gasp inducing thing. I added a splash of milk to my Verdant tea! Ahh! And it didn’t do a whole lot, but it did cut down a bit on the bitter note. Mostly it makes it a little smoother and thicker. I prefer it without I think, but it was a nice little experiment to try! :D

Yess, the matcha I had earlier did the trick – my stomach is not hating on me for eating too much pasta and now I am going to get started on a Verdant black! I’ve been craving some malty goodness, probably because I’ve been having lots of flavored teas lately, I just need some simplicity.

This one is a sipdown – I had just enough left in my pack to try this in my gongfu pot. Now, there was no way I could manage a 1 sec rinse with a gongfu teapot, it takes too long to pour it out, so I had to do a mini rinse, not the full pot, just enough to cover the leaves, and pour out as fast as I could lol. It was about 6 seconds or so. Lol, I need to invest in a gaiwan at some point!

So I probably had about 4-5 g of tea in the packet, so I tried to steep as quick as I could as well. Ended up being around 8-10 seconds. The resulting liquor is a lovely deep gold, a hint of red in it. It smells HEAVENLY. I couldn’t quite recall the smell of the tea from the dry leaves, but now I get that sweet potato, honey soaked barely scent. Mm it smells pretty delicious!

As for the taste, this one is hitting the spot perfectly today! A nice malty chocolate, and honey aftertaste with an almost wheaty taste. This tea doesn’t seem as thick as some others, which is a nice change, just a light, luscious black tea. The honey notes aren’t as strong either, but the maltiness is excellent. Oh, and as I just finished my cup, the smoothness of this tea really became noticeable. I think the smoothness is maybe more pronounced with gongfu brewing!

Overall, this tea is good both western style and gongfu. I am looking forward to seeing how the flavor changes as I do multiple steepings of this one this afternoon. A bit of a sad sipdown, but I am pleased I had the chance to try this tea while it was available! And maybe another batch will come out this spring or summer :)

So I wanted to do more sipdowns today but after looking through the choices I had only one cup left of, none caught my fancy. This, however, has been on my mind for the past few days, especially after Indigobloom`s note on it. I wanted to do this gongfu at first, but I am feeling exceptionally lazy today, maybe because I did a lot of gongfu brewing with my pu’erh yesterday, so I decided to do western. Also, I want to save my leaves, only have 7 g of this :(

The dry smell was quite chocolate and yum, reminded me of Laoshan Black. I steeped for 1 minute in boiling water. The wet leaves were BAM, pure honey, I was very pleased. I love honey, had a lovely honey toast for breakfast, so this was very promising.

Now for taste..this is pretty delicious. I do get the sweet potato that others have mentioned, and although I am not a huge fan of them (aka NEVER eat them haha) this tea tastes quite delicious. There is a strong honey taste and lots and lots of chocolate, but it’s a different type of chocolate than the Laoshan Black. That one was more rich and decadent, this one is more of a honey sweet chocolate with some grain. Not as much malt, but in the last bit of the sip it definitely is present. This isn’t as thick as other black teas either, more along the lines of the Mi Lan Dancong for mouthfeel. Regardless, this is a darn tasty cup, and now I want to try it gongfu at some point to see what happens to the flavors.

I will have a few more cups of this today, going out for bday sushi with friends tonight so don’t want to be too waterlogged, might have to save some steepings for tomorrow.

Overall, this is a nice, sweet black tea. Lots of honey and chocolate, yet lighter and a bit different from the other Verdant Black teas. Oh, and I feel the caffeine in this one hehe :) thank you for yet another excellent tea, Verdant!!

ETA: I actually enjoyed the latter half of the cup a bit more than the first half, it just zipped down and now I will have to make more. It is even more honey, if that is possible, and smoother too? Mmmm ok this is a darn good tea.

This is my first review here on Steepster, and really my first experience with really high quality tea. I love black tea and grew up drinking strong English teas. Well, I was completely caught off guard with this tea. The first thing that came to mind when I smelled the dry leaves was standing over a pot as a pastry chef caramelizing sugar. That sweet smell as the sugar starts to melt and take on that lovely golden color. And then the chocolate notes hit, and never left. I will never dismiss the aroma of chocolate! It is welcome anytime.

I was a little confused about the brewing time, but that is the tea newbie in me. I dusted off my forgotten yixing pot and did what it said on the package, 3 grams of tea, 6 oz. of water, steep for 2-3 seconds. The tea was so pale I was confused because as I mentioned before, I am used to strong English black teas. I went on the website to try again and followed the brewing instructions for the “Western brew” which says to brew for 3 minutes. At about the 2 minute mark, I decide to watch the video and it seems the longest brew time mentioned for various brewing vessels was 10 seconds. I panicked because I was already past 2 minutes at this point. At any rate, I went with the 3 minute western style brewing time they have listed. It was a lovely golden color at that point. Not nearly as dark as any black tea I have had before. And the taste…oh the taste, it was just incredible. It is the most complex tea I have ever had. I kept getting a subtle smokiness and the chocolate was present the whole time. It was so smooth and just wonderful.

I ordered 4 different types of black teas from verdant and I can’t wait to try them all. If anyone has any suggestions with the brewing time, I would love to hear them. I am new at this and learning as I go along.

It took a few steepings for the flavor to start to come out.

This tea goes particularly well with strawberries with a little yogurt or whipped cream.

Backlog from yesterday.
Five infusions in total. My fave was the third. So creamy and lots of cocoa!
The first two were ok, but now that I finally made it to the third one, it pales in comparison.
Fourth one was still a bit creamy, with a few mineral twinges. The fifth one was super mouth drying and a bit lighter with a heavy mineral party going on. I liked it, but I’m still not sure if I loved that part. It was rather unique!

I had a teeny bit of Pancake Breakfast left and wanted to use it up, and I’m running low on black Indian teas so I added a bunch of this! First time I ever tried it with milk. Not bad at all. Kinda like chocolate pancakes :P